


the spring festival

by KirstieJ



Series: TAZ Apartment AU [3]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Apartment AU, Baked Goods, Domestic, F/F, F/M, Festivals, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 02:47:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12003372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirstieJ/pseuds/KirstieJ
Summary: The spring festival is taking place in a big park near an apartment building. An elf, with the help of his family and friends, sets up a table selling baked goods at said festival. Good times are had, friends learn new things about each other, stuffed animals are won, and offerings are given to the deity Pan in exchange for his blessings during the season to come.





	the spring festival

**Author's Note:**

> Again most of the shipping is pretty, um, implied in this, especially for Taako/Magnus, but I ship them so that's technically how it's intended to be, and same with Barry/Lup/Lucretia. the Carey/Killian is more explicitly there than the other couplings haha. I hope you enjoy regardless, dear readers!

“C’mon, Ango, you gotta book it kiddo. I can’t be late for this,” Taako says, standing in the doorway of Angus MacDonald’s apartment.

“I know, sir,” Angus calls from his room within. Taako makes brief eye contact with Angus’ granddad, sitting on the couch as his grandson gets ready. In another moment or two, Angus is flying down the hall towards the door, but stops before he reaches Taako when his grandfather addresses him.

“Angus, do you have your money?”

“Yes, Grampa.”

“Your lunch?”

“Yes.”

“Water bottle?”

“Yes, yes, I have it all, Grampa! Taako needs to go,” Angus says.

“Alrighty, Angus. I trust you to be responsible and listen to the twins, now.”

“Of course, Grampa.”

“Be a good boy, now.”

“He always is,” Taako supplies. His grandfather makes an affirming noise.

“Love you, Grampa!”

“Love you too, sport,” Angus’ granddad tells him as Angus leaves with Taako, shutting the door behind him.

The two board the recently fixed elevator and ride the way down to the main floor, then exit it and go outside to where Lup and Magnus are already loading up a cart with tons of baked goods. The window closest to where the cart is parked is wide open with a dragonborn woman hanging out of it, chatting happily with Lup and Magnus. A hand belonging to someone unseen reaches over the dragonborn’s head and places a crown made of woven flowers on the top of it, and she smiles over her shoulder.

“Hey, Magnus,” Taako says, tilting his head slightly.

“Hey Ango! Taako!” Magnus greets them. “Cool cap, Angus,” Magnus comments, hefting the last flat of strawberry tarts onto the cart before clapping his hands together to brush the imaginary dust from them.

“Thanks!” Angus says, reaching up to touch the side of his hat where he’s hot glued various fake flowers onto the top of it.

“Hey, guys,” Carey greets from the window, waving her hand.

“Hey,” Taako says with a wave, before turning his eyes onto the cart, re-counting the stock to make sure all of the things he spent the last day baking in his kitchen are accounted for. “You and Killian heading out to the festival, too?”

“Yeah, we’ll be right behind you guys,” Carey tells him. “We were gonna try to get some stuff unpacked this morning, but instead we spent our time covering ourselves in flowers.”

“I think that’s a pretty good use of time,” Taako says, humming.

“Yet you have no flowers yourself?” Magnus chimes in with a perked brow. Lup has flowers braided into her hair, which is piled on top of her head, and Magnus himself has small flowers loosely pinned into his hair and sideburns.

“I didn’t have that time, I was busy finishing up this shit,” Taako says with a roll of his eyes.

“We’ll figure something out for him once we get to the festival,” Lup says.

“I’m wearing all earth-tones, it’s fine,” Taako tells them. “Speaking of, we need to get going. We only have so much time before the booths are open to the public.”

“Okay, okay. We’ll see you in a little bit, Carey,” Magnus calls as they all get into the cart and start on their way.

The grand park hosting the festival isn’t very far from their apartment building, so the drive is over quickly. Once they park in their spot, number 24, they begin to set up the front of the booth, setting out one pan of each type of pastry Taako whipped up. He puts out his prices and sets up the money box in front of where he’ll stand, and places a stack of cards that have his name and his public stone of farspeech frequency on them. He then takes a little bit to tweak the placement of his stock, seeking perfection.

In the meantime, Magnus and Lup take Angus around to look at the rest of the vendors as they set up their booths as well. There are a few other food booths, lots of hand-crafted wares and jewelry, shirts, art, even handmade note-books. And, of course, flowers and flower accessories. There is a booth at the front set up with music, and at the other end a small group of bards with instruments to fill the air that the music won’t quite reach. Across from the booth with music, Lup sets her eyes on a booth selling hula-hoops and hammocks, making mental note to return there as soon as it opens. They make a full pass, returning to Taako’s booth near the front just in time for one of the coordinators to come by and tell them they have five minutes before opening.

“Okay,” Taako says, taking a deep breath. “We’re all set up, everything is ready.”  Lup and Magnus nod, looking around at the booths they can see, everyone making any last minute preparations they need or just taking the last few minutes to relax before customers come by.

“Angus,” Taako says, placing his hands on the boy’s shoulders.

“Yes?” Angus says, looking up at him from behind his glasses.

“I’m gonna need you to listen to me very carefully, kid. I’m gonna be busy here, today, and there’s gonna be a lot of people. I can’t watch you like a hawk, so here’s what gonna happen. You’re gonna stay within my sight, unless you’re leaving with either Lup, or Magnus. If you leave with one them and get separated anyway, you come right back here. I’m going to give you Lup’s stone of far-speech again, set to my personal frequency automatically. If you get lost, call me, and I will call Magnus and he will find you. Understand?”

“Understood, sir,” Angus says, puffing his chest out a bit and nodding. He dutifully hangs the stone of far speech around his neck.

“Good boy,” Taako says, patting Angus on the head.

“Hey,” Magnus says, placing a hand on Taako’s shoulder as Angus turns around, “I’ll keep an eye on him.”

Taako eyes Magnus for a moment and slowly says “Good.” Then, he turns back to his stock, pressing a finger to his lip. Cooking is really more in his element than baking, but he can make pretty mean pastry nonetheless. He figured it would be an easier sell, at least until he can gather the things necessary for a true food-cart, with an actual kitchen component where he can make the food. It was a bit of a spur of the moment decision, to apply for a table at the spring festival, after all.

A few moments later, the gates are opened to the public and a steady stream of people start to trickle in. Many pass right by, wanting to get a look at all of the booths before deciding where to put their money. However, Taako gets some customers right away, a number of people stopping by to try a baked good or two. Angus is at the ready with tongs and brown bags, helping Taako serve some people. Magnus lingers around and helps Angus when a few more people start to crowd around about twenty minutes later, and then Lup starts helping Taako with taking money. It slows down again after some amount of time, not that any of them are able to pay attention to the time due to the people buying Taako’s goods.

Once they get a slower moment, Lup looks at Taako and tells him she’ll be right back. Taako nods once and Lup runs off.

“Where’s she going?” Magnus asks, stepping behind Taako to pick up a flat of blueberry tarts, because they’re nearly out.

Taako shrugs and makes a noise that sounds something like “I dunno”. Magnus nods, and when he looks, he’s already lost Lup in the crowd. If he cares enough about it he’ll remember to ask her when she gets back.

They get some more people as another wave comes in, and Angus continues to bag things, glancing over at Taako as he calculates and takes the payment. Once or twice, Angus corrects him on a total when people are buying a lot of different pastries. Taako thanks him.

At the end of one small wave of people, two familiar faces show up, a half-orc and a dragonborn. It’s kind of hard to miss them, really. The city is relatively diverse, especially for it’s size, but it’s still a human majority with elves and dwarves not far behind, like most urban centres.

“Carey! Killian!” Magnus calls, grinning

“Magnus!” the two of them call in unison, which makes Carey break out into giggles.

“Hello, ladies,” Taako says, “can I interest you in any of my fine wares?” he asks, waving a hand over his baked goods.

“Can you explain to us what it is you have here today?” Killian asks, amusement in her voice.

“That I can,” Taako says, placing a hand delicately on his chest. He launches into an explanation of the things that have been selling well so far, talking about the ingredients he used and some of his techniques, playing it up for them. Carey and Killian offer some “oohs” and “aahs” at appropriate moments, making Angus and Magnus laugh in the background.

“So, have any of my tasty treats caught your interest?” Taako ends, wiggling his eyebrows. Carey covers her mouth as she laughs more.

“Hmm. I kinda want all of them,” Killian says, looking down with a hand on her hip.

“Babe, you can’t eat all of them,” Carey says, putting a hand on Killian’s shoulder.

“No, _you_ can’t. I _shouldn’t_ , because then I won’t be able to go around the rest of the festival because I will be in a food coma.” Carey snorts, at that, and Killian hums. “Mags, what should I get?”

“Huh? Uh. I dunno, I haven’t actually tried anything yet. But literally everything I have tried that Taako has made has been heavenly, so, um, you can’t go wrong?”

“He puts you to work and doesn’t even feed you?” Carey clicks her tongue, shaking her head at Taako.

“Hey, I didn’t tell him he had to stay here. Hell, I didn’t even ask him to help me load my stuff. I guess he did it out of the kindness of his own heart.”

Magnus tilts his head slightly, because he distinctly remembers Lup asking him to help yesterday. Unless… maybe Taako hadn’t asked her to, but she’d asked Magnus of her own accord. That’s certainly possible. The twins work in mysterious, mysterious fucking ways.

“I got no problem helping out,” Magnus tells them. “I’m probably gonna ditch for a while when Lup gets back, or if it stays slow.”

“You can leave whenever you want, I’ll be fine,” Taako assures him.

“Yeah, still.”

“Has stalling brought you any closer to a decision, ma’ams?” Angus pipes up, and Taako lets out a laugh.

“That’s my little salesman,” Taako says, pride in his voice. Angus blushes a little. There are a few people starting to line up, so it might be best to start moving customers, is all.

“It actually did, thank you,” Killian says. She asks for a cookie and a strawberry tart, and Carey decides on a different cookie and the blueberry tart.

Angus bags them up and Taako crunches the numbers, telling them their total.

“Oh, um, sir, that’s wrong.”

“No, it’s not,” Taako says, without delay.

“But it should be more tha-“

“Ango? Mh-mmh,” Taako holds up a finger. Carey and Killian look at each other, then at the prices and they both start to laugh, giving Taako the money he asked for.

“You sure about that number?” Killian checks with Taako one more time, perking a brow.

“Entirely positive, my friends. Have a nice day.”

“Thanks, Taako!” Carey says. “See you later, Mags, Angus.”

“Bye!” Magnus calls, and Angus flashes them a smile.

After this, the flow of people is slower, but still pretty steady. Magnus ends up going for a little walk, looking at the neighbouring booths again. Angus continues to help Taako by bagging items and smiling brightly at customers, who frequently smile right back at him, entirely charmed. Taako charges everyone the correct, full price for their goods from here on. Magnus makes his way back to their booth after a little bit, a moment or two before Lup returns with a hula hoop in hand, looking a little winded.

“The music up there is jammin’, fellas,” Lup declares, sliding the hula hoop into the back of the cart.

“Well I suppose I can guess where you ran off to,” Magnus says.

“Yeah, I was up near the hula booth, impressing some nerds with my mad hoop skills. How are sales, Tic Tac?”

“Just dandy,” Taako proclaims proudly. “We’re, like, almost out of blueberry tarts already. Lemon isn’t as popular, which was a surprise to me. Cookies are good, strawberry is selling well, and the floral pastry is going well, too, which is good. Wasn’t sure how that one was gonna work out.”

“Mmmh, good, good. Speaking of,” Lup reaches around Taako and grabs a floral pastry, something to go along with the very flowery theme of the spring festival. She steps next to the cart as she takes a bite, looking around. After swallowing but before the next bite, Lup’s eyes go wide. “Hey! Lucretia!” she puts her pastry in her mouth and grabs a strawberry tart, running towards the woman she just yelled at.

The woman in question looks at her, startled, but accepts the one-armed hug she’s given, and also takes the strawberry tart she’s offered. Lup grins and takes the floral pastry out of her mouth before she links their arms, gesturing forwards and telling Lucretia about her favourite booth so far.

“Pretty spritely, that one, isn’t she?” Magnus asks.

“Oh, she’s got fire in her veins. Literally. She’s an evocation mage, you know.”

“Damn,” Magnus says, “not sure if did know that. Come to think of it, I’m not sure if I know what type of magic you specialize in.”

“Oh, I know this one!” Angus says.

“Hm?” Taako tilts his head.

“You specialize in transmutation, sir,” Angus tells him.

“That’s right,” Taako says. “I know, like, a shitton of spells, though. All kinds,” Taako says, holding his chin up and wiggling his fingers.

“Are we ever gonna practice magic again, sir?” Angus asks, looking up at Taako again.

“Yeah, you betcha. Taako just has to find the time, my dude.”

“You’re teaching him magic?” Magnus asks.

“Kid’s gotta start somewhere. You shoulda seen who first started teaching _me_ magic. Brave soul,” Taako smirks.

“No, that’s totally cool! I don’t know, like, the first thing about magic,” Magnus admits. “I’ve always kinda wanted to learn, like, a cantrip or two. Just something real simple. But I never got around to trying, and, like, where is a full grown adult gonna go to learn beginner level spells like that?”

“I mean, I could teach you something. Or Angus could,” Taako grins, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“I could try, but I don’t really know that much. We could all get together and learn together, maybe!” Angus says, looking up at Taako.

“Yeah, maybe,” Magnus says with a shrug. “We’ll have to see. Oh! Customer incoming,” he says, taking a step back from the front of the booth to stand beside it.

Angus and Taako manage the next two waves of customers, now in the groove of working together. Near the end of it, Carey and Killian return, standing to the side of the booth chatting with Magnus, talking about the trinkets they want to buy and showing off the stuffed lizard Carey won for Killian at one of the game booths. When the customers die out, Taako and Angus tune into the conversation.

“We also came across these really beautiful necklaces carved out of wood. Like, not the entire thing, it’s still on a chain, but the main jewelry piece is all wood. I think I might get one,” Carey is telling Magnus, gesturing here and there.

“Okay, but if you want wood-carved stuff, you know you can always come to me, right?” Magnus says. “I was a carpenter in another life, and I still do a shitton of whittling in my free time, c’mon. I’m like, really good. If you give me an idea of what you want I can do it.”

“Oh, right,” Carey says, humming. “Well, we got the card of the lady selling the necklaces here. Maybe we can hold off, think about it.”

“I’d definitely be interested in seeing your stuff, at the very least,” Killian says. “I don’t think I knew that about you.”

“Oh, really?” Magnus says. Killian shrugs.

“I think I told her about the carpenter bit, not sure about woodworking specifically,” Carey shrugs as well.

“I don’t know if I knew that, either,” Taako chimes in. “Do you make, say... kitchen utensils?”

“I’ve made spoons before. I could probably make a bowl, or a cutting board. Oh, I made a rolling pin, once. So, yeah, totally.”

“Hm. Interesting,” Taako says. “Maybe next year you should get a table, too.”

“Oh, well, it’s not really a business thing. I mostly just give stuff away, y’know, birthdays, Candlenights. I once entered a competition. And won, naturally.”

“Yeah, Killian, you know that little wooden duck I have on our dresser? Magnus made that.”

“No way! Sweet. I love that little guy.”

While the conversation goes on, Angus completes a couple transactions by himself, smiling and wishing the fairgoers a nice day. Taako watches over him, but the kid is doing well on his own.

“Well, I think we’re gonna make another round and decide where we wanna put our money,” Killian says.

“Hang on a sec, I’ll be third wheel,” Magnus says, and Taako looks at him and holds up a finger. Magnus nods.

“Hey, kid,” Taako says, to Angus. “Why don’t you go with them? You’ve been behind this booth this whole time, I didn’t bring you here for free child labour. It’s been fun kicking it with you, but you should go on and see some of the actual festival.”

“Are you sure? You’ll be here all alone.”

“Believe it or not, Angus, I can handle a crowd by myself. Go have some fun.”

“Okay, I guess,” Angus says. He joins Magnus, Carey, and Killian where they’re waiting, and the four of them start on their way to take another look at the booths.

Angus and Carey get their faces painted, as Magnus and Killian go to try some games. At the games, Magnus meets up with Lup and Lucretia, Lucretia already holding two prizes in her arms. Magnus spends the entire time with the goal of winning something for Angus, and also beating Lup at the game they’re playing, at least in overall points. It takes some effort and too many coins, but he does manage to secure a stuffed frog for Angus. Magnus and Lup end up tying in points, which pisses them both off. Lucretia makes them end it because Angus and Carey got back five minutes ago and they’re all tired of watching Lup and Magnus whip balls at bottles fast enough to frighten the poor guy behind the stand, though.

“Angus,” Magnus calls, picking up the frog he won from the counter it was sitting on.

“Uh, yes sir?” Angus asks.

“Cool butterfly. This is for you,” Magnus says, holding it out.

“Really? Thank you!” Angus smiles and takes the frog.

“It’s nothing. Have to give the prize to someone, yeah? Not like I’m gonna keep a toy for myself.”

“Thanks,” Angus repeats, squeezing it to his chest. Magnus looks away and scratches at his noses.  

Meanwhile, Lup hands the most recently won stuffed animal over to Lucretia, who rolls her eyes at Lup. Lup smiles back at her, putting a hand on her shoulder blade. “We can go drop these off at my brother’s booth, yeah?”

“Good idea,” Lucretia says.

“We’ll be right behind you,” Magnus says. It’s been a while since they left Taako, so they should probably make sure he hasn’t drowned in customers.

“Sir, there’s just one thing I want to grab,” Angus says, tugging on Magnus’ sleeve.

“Yeah, for sure,” Magnus says.

“And we’ll catch you later? We wanna go listen to some of the music and finish spending money we barely have.” Killian says, now holding Carey’s hand in her own.

“For sure!” Magnus repeats, and their group splits up to do just as they said they would.

Lup heads towards Taako’s booth, Lucretia in tow with three stuffed animals piled in her arms. There’s a typical teddy bear, a turtle, and an otter. Getting closer to the booth, they can see that Taako is alive and well, smiling coyly as a tall half-elf pays for something from Taako’s spread. It looks like his goods are starting to run a little low, but that’s not bad given that there’s only about an hour or so left before the booths are shut down.

“Hey, Taako,” Lup greets. “How’s it going now?”

“It’s been great, Lup,” Taako says, hands on his hips in a satisfied manner. “I’m almost out of blueberry tarts, and I might just sell out of stock. If not, we’ll just have a few things to snack on or pawn off on people, so.”

“That sounds excellent, my guy. I’m proud,” Lup says, and Taako rolls his eyes.

“Did you doubt my abilities in both baking and sale?”

“Ugh, no,” Lup says, clicking her tongue. “Let me pay you a genuine compliment for once, hey?” She then takes a moment to pluck the stuffed animals from Lucretia’s arms. “So, um, the turtle is for you, Luce. Do you wanna hang onto it or leave it here for safekeeping?”

“Um,” Lucertia looks down. “Maybe it would be easier to leave it here?”

“Fair choice,” Lup says, then puts it, and the otter away. She smirks at the bear and turns back to Taako, glancing over to see Magnus and Angus almost all the way back as well. “Guess what your favourite twin sister won for you, Taako?”

“Oh, what ever could it be?” Taako says, leaning his forearms on the small amount of space on the counter before his flats of pastries take up the room.

“It’s a bear!” Lup says with glee. “I mean, I know you already _basically_ have one,” she says in elvish, lowering her voice slightly as she shoots a look towards Magnus, who is only just arriving at the front of the cart.

“Shut _up_ ,” Taako hisses, his eyes going wide.

“You know it’s true,” she says, again in elvish. “But, still. Take your stuffed animal,” she tells him, holding the bear out.

Taako snatches the bear out of Lup’s hands, blushing just a tad. The bear is brown and wearing pink floral overalls. “I do love it,” Taako admits in a blunt tone.

“Hey, Taako! How are sales?” Magnus asks, smiling.

“Just great. They might be a little better without huge men taking my up entire cartfront, but, you know.”

“Hey now, I literally _just_ got back,” Magnus says in a fake-wounded voice. Taako just snorts at him. “For real, it looks like you’re starting to run out, which is, like, better than having a ton of leftovers, right?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty pleased,” Taako says with sincerity. He looks down at the bear for another moment before moving the rest of the blueberry tarts into the same flat as the lemon ones and then removing the blueberry flat entirely. He sits the bear next to the fairly full tip jar, tapping it on the back so it will sit up on it’s own. He moves some of the dwindling pile of his cards into the paws of the bear. “There. Now he’s my adorable little bear mascot.”

“That is so cute,” Magnus says.

“Heyyo, speaking of bears,” Lup says.

“I swear to god-” Taako starts, but he’s cut of.

“Barry! Barold!” Lup yells, causing a couple heads in the crowd to turn towards them, but only one has eyes that light up with recognition with they land on Lup. Barry makes his way over to their cart.

“Hey! Sorry, I’m, like, super late. I couldn’t really find you guys for a while. I stopped by to talk to Taako but he had no idea where you went.”

“Don’t sweat it. I was busy having mad game and pulverizing Magnus into dust with my superior ball-handling,” Lup explains.

“Hey, we tied!”

“Yeah, after we started keeping track. Who is the one who has three prizes?”

“Legit only because you were doing it longer than me,” Magnus says, narrowing his eyes.

“And because I’m more skilled than you. Anyway, check it out, Barry,” Lup says, leaning down to pick up the otter plush. “This is for you.”

“Ah, what? Lup,” Barry says, taking the plush and blushing a little bit.

“You’re welcome,” Lup says. “I won Lucretia a turtle,” Lup says, holding it up for him. Lucretia looks over at her name, having been looking in her bag for something.

“Huh?”

“Nothing, showing off the prize I won you. What are you looking for, dear?” Lup asks, having noticed Lucretia look over.

“A pencil,” Lucretia says.

“I got one,” Taako says, leaning down to grab his sac and dig in the front pocket.

“Thank you,” Lucretia says.

“I also won a prize for our dear sweet Ango,” Magnus declares.

“Speaking of, where _is_ Angus?” Taako asks, looking over at Magnus.

“Um, right here?” Angus says from behind Taako, and Taako jumps.

“Jeeze. When did you get back there?”

“Approximately, um, three minutes ago? Five? Right after we arrived back here. I was putting my frog in my backpack, and the gift I got for my grandpa. I also may have been eating my sandwich because I forgot about lunch.”

“Oh. Okay. You’ll have to show me the gift later,” Taako comments, then turns back towards the front. “Now, for real, ya’ll have to move to the side or something.”

“But, Taako, I intend to buy something from you,” Magnus says, pulling some of the leftover coins from his pocket. Taako puts one hand on his hip and the other on the counter in front of him, fixing Magnus with an incredulous look. “What? Am I not allowed to?”

“You most certainly are _not_ ,” Taako says, then changes stance to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“But I want one of those strawberry tarts, they look really good,” Magnus says, furrowing his brows.

Taako makes a noise of annoyance. He takes some tongs and places a strawberry tart in a bag, and also puts a cookie in it as well. “Here you go, good sir.”

“Okay. Good,” Magnus says, slowly. He’s got no idea what’s gotten into Taako. “Now, take my money,” Magnus says, holding it out.

“Absolutely not.” Oh. Magnus might be getting it.

“Oh, come on, Taako. You worked really hard on this.”

“You also helped me for more than half of the day? I’m not taking your money, bub.”

“I’m just gonna put it in the tip jar,” Magnus says with a shrug, but as soon as he says so, Taako covers the top of the tip jar with his hand. “Taako. Seriously,” Magnus narrows his eyes at him.

“Nope. Keep it.”

“Taako,” Magnus says. Taako just fixes him with a stare. Magnus looks directly into his eyes. They’re very pretty, green, and currently filled with irritation. Magnus leans in closer, Taako narrows his eyes. “I hope you know, I’ll be paying for this, someday. In some way, shape, or form.”

“You go ahead and try,” Taako says, his voice low.

“I will,” Magnus says, confidently. “And I’ll succeed.” With that, Magnus straightens his back and moves out of the way of the cart.

Agnus looks over at Lup, Barry, and Lucretia to try and validate the feelings of incredibly tense vibes he got from that situation. Lup is no help, because the only thing present on her face is vague amusement. She even has some sort of glint in her eyes, but that’s pretty normal for her, to be honest. It’s hard not to assume she’s up to something, because she almost always is. Thankfully for Angus and his desire for some social validation, Lucretia has her eyebrows raised and Barry has his knitted, making the two of them look like they have no idea what they just witnessed. Angus can relate.

Taako and Magnus act no different than before the brief altercation. A few moments later, a young couple come up to buy some treats and Taako serves them. The next person to stop by, Angus helps with. And, after they leave, Angus looks over to Taako and asks, “Sir, can I buy a cookie?”

“No, but you can _have_ a cookie. Also, take a brown bag and pack up a couple things to take home for you and your grandpa, mkay kid?”

“Okay,” Angus says, sticking a cooking into his mouth before he chooses a lemon tart and a cookie for his grandfather. He puts in a floral pastry for himself later. He folds up the bag and goes to put it with his stuff, then joins Taako again. They get a few more customers, much of his stuff being bought up.

About twenty minutes before the end of the market part of the festival, a familiar half-elf approaches them. She’s got blue flowers woven into her long, dark hair, and she comes by at a stagnant moment.

“Sloane!” Taako yells, as soon as he lays eyes on her. She smiles at him, a little shy.

“Hey, it’s the cloak I almost sat on the other day!” Magnus says, and Sloane tilts her head. “Y’know, the morning after the party the twins had?”

“Oh, right,” Sloane says, looking at the navy cloak. “You… thought it was just my cloak lying there, when I was on Taako’s chair, but it was me. Gotcha. Hi, again.”

“Hey,” Magnus repeats with a cheerful smile.

“I see your stock is selling well,” Sloane says, to Taako.

“Hell yeah. Want anything?” Taako asks.

“I would love something, but I have stuff to do…”

“I can bag it and save it for you.”

“That would be killer. Hmm… strawberry tart?”

“You got it,” Taako says, sliding one into a bag and placing it behind him.

“Thanks so much, Taako. I mostly just wanted to come say hi,”  Sloane says, glancing over her shoulder. “I do gotta get going. But, before I do, just where are your flowers, Taako? This is the spring festival, man.” 

“I-” Taako groans. “I wanted to get all floral, but didn’t have time,” he says, “I was doing all this,” he gestures at the cartfront. “You know otherwise I’d be all over that aesthetic.”

“No excuses. Hey,” Sloane says, her eyes going bright for a moment, “why don’t you come with me for a second? I can hook you up with some flowers.”

“I can’t leave this cart,” Taako says.

“I mean, we would totally have you covered,” Magnus says.

“Yeah, Taako,” Lup pops in. “Go accessorize, _God._ ”

“Mmhhh no, I’m not going to leave.”

“How about I go get the flowers and bring them back to you, then?” Magnus says with a roll of his eyes.

“That could work,” Taako shrugs. “I’m just not going to leave.”

“Well, okay,” Sloane says, then turns to Magnus, “follow me.”

Magnus does that. Sloane brings him up front, to the tent beside the stage. There are a group of Panites there, Merle among them, getting ready for the religious portion of the celebration where they hold a service in honor of Pan and engage in some traditional prayer. It’s open to all, not just followers of Pan, and Magnus guesses Sloane is getting ready for that too.

“Here,” Sloane says, looking down into a basket and moving some flowers around. “This basket is expressly for people who forgot their flowers or didn’t have time for them, so…” she digs a bit until she finds a crown made of light pink and yellow flowers, something that will go well with the light brown and green Taako is wearing today.

“Thanks!” Magnus says.

“Now, as soon as Taako gets his stuff locked up, you guys all have to come get good spots near the stage. There’s a special surprise, in honor of the festival growing more and more each year. I’m really excited about it,” Sloane says, smiling softly.

“Definitely! We’ll be there. I’ll go get this to Taako and we’ll see you in a few.”

“Great,” Sloane says, and Magnus exits the tent.

Meanwhile, in the booth, only a few more people stop by. Lup, Barry, and Lucretia decide it would be a good idea to go scope out a spot near the stage for all of them, and Taako agrees. Angus starts chatting with Taako as they wait out the last little while, and for Magnus to return.

“Hey, sir. Did I ever tell you I solved the dirt puzzle?”

“The dirt puzzle? You mean, the mystery dirt on our balconies?”

“Yes! I figured out the true cause of it. It came from the rooftop”

“So… It’s, like, a rooftop garden?”

“Yes! But, there was something specific they were growing there.”

“Oh. Well, what is it?”

“You’ll see in a little bit, sir.”

“Oh hell naw, don’t leave me hanging, Angus. You gotta tell me now.”

“But you’re literally about to find out, sir, in, like, ten minutes.”

“It’s got something to do with the festival?”

“Yes!”

“Tell me.”

“But that ruins the surprise.”

“I don’t like surprises,” Taako says, then waits a minute before continuing on, “Angus, if you don’t tell me…”

“Fine, fine,” Angus says, not even wanting to hear what empty threat Taako is going to provide him with today. He gestures for Taako to lean down and whispers in his ear.

At this moment, Magnus arrives back at the front of Taako’s cart. “Telling secrets?” he asks.

“Learning about the ways of the universe through the eyes of a child,” Taako says, and Angus snickers.

“Sweet,” Magnus says, then moves behind the counter with Angus and Taako. “And here you are, your royal highness,” Magnus says in a pompous voice, holding the flower crown over Taako’s head and resting it gently on top of his hair.

“Um, yes, you can continue to refer to me like that, uh, from now until forever,” Taako says, smirking. Magnus laughs at him. “Oh, you think I’m joking? One day, I'm gonna find some hot rich nobility to marry, and then who's gonna be laughing? Me, all the way to the bank, and, also to my castle.” This sends Magnus and Angus both into bigger fits of laughter.

“Honestly, Taako, if anyone was going to do that, I’m sure it would be you.”

Taako sighs as snaps a mirror into his hands from thin air, tucking the wisps of hair not in his braid behind his ears and adjusting the crown on his head. "You know it. He's gonna be way old, but still handsome, of course. And for his funeral, I'll be dressed to the nines and downright inconsolable."

“Um,” Magnus says, as Taako snaps the mirror back out of existance. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”

Taako winks at him and Angus shakes his head. Looking around them, they can see most of the other vendors are starting to pack up their wares, so Taako takes the hint. “Alright, boys,” he says, “looks like we should get a move on.”

With that, Taako, Magnus, and Angus start to pack up what’s left of Taako’s goods. They did well in selling his stuff, there are some goodies leftover but not much that some snacking won’t take care of it, especially with this many friends around. Taako takes the money and puts it into a bag. He dumps out the tips and counts them up, then splits them three ways.

“Here,” Taako says, turning to Magnus and Angus with two stacks of coins, holding out one to each of them.

“What’s this?” Magnus asks, furrowing his brows.

“Tips. You helped today.”

“Oh, no, the free food was more than enough,” Magnus says, holding a hand up.

“Magnus,” Taako says.

“Taako, for real. Give it all to Ango, he did more work than I did anyway.”

“Oh, um, that’s not necessary, sir,” Angus says.

“You both need to get over yourselves,” Taako says. He meets Magnus’ eyes and they stare at each other, hard, for another moment. Taako clicks his tongue and puts all the coins into one hand, holding his fist out to Angus. “Take these or I swear to God I’m going to just throw them in the trash.”

Angus opens a palm and takes the coins, lifting his bag to put them in the front pocket. “Thank you, sir.”

“You _earned_ it, okay? You should get something in exchange for your time and effort. Jeeze.”

“We should really get going. Where are they others?” Magnus asks, as if he just realized Lup, Barry, and Lucretia are no longer around.

“Saving our spots. So, yeah, let’s go.” They exit the cart and Taako locks it up, with both physical locks and magic. They make their way out of the vendor’s area and up to the stage, finding the place where Lup, Lucretia, and Barry have joined Carey and Killian on the ground. Taako sits next to Lup, and Angus next to him. Magnus plops down next to Carey.

“Oh, hey, mind if I sit too?” someone asks from behind Taako just a moment later. He turns his head and his eyes light up.

“Ren! Why hello, again. I would be offended if you didn’t,” he tells her, and she smiles and sits between Angus and Magnus. She had popped by Taako’s cart somewhere along the way, but she was helping run another cart so she hadn’t been able to stay. “How was the tart?” Taako asks her.

“Amazing, Taako,” Ren says with a smile.

“Naturally. Ren, have you met Magnus? Oh, wait, you were both at that party. Y’know, where Magnus mistook Sloane for a cloak.”

“Ah, yes, we were. Fun night, that was,” Ren says, smiling at Magnus in greeting.

“You can remember it, huh?” Magnus asks. “Cannot relate.” Carey lets out a bark of laughter.

“That was a fantastic party,” she comments. “We all really need to get together again for drinks.”

“I agree, though isn’t it a little soon for more partying? That was, like, what, two weeks ago?” Killian asked.

“You must be recovered by now,” Lup chimes in, “that’s two whole weeks.”

“Physically, yes, of course. I wasn’t even sick in the first place. Emotionally? Spiritually? That’s another story,” Killian says.

“She has a point,” Taako says, “there is a certain magic involved when you have a fantastic night, it can’t always be replicated so easily. If you push it to try and happen too often it can backfire.”

“Taako, we used to party three nights a week and have just as much fun every single night.”

“Yes, but that was during our ‘partying days’. We’re out of that stage of life, Lup, this is different.”

“Does anybody else feel like this is not the most appropriate venue for this topic, seeing as we’re at a family-friendly religious service?” Lucretia asks.

“Pssh, we’re fine, babe,” Lup says with a wave of her hand.

“I mean, I do see your point, Lucretia,” Magnus says. “Has any of this offended your tiny ears, Angus?”

“Well, the reason I met Taako in the first place was because he and Lup were always blasting their music too loud at night and my grampa had trouble sleeping, so, he asked me to knock on their door. It’s not like I’m unaware of the partying that adults do, sir.”

“Wait, for real?”

“You really gotta go and do us like that, kid?” Taako asks.

“But, it’s the truth, sir.”

“In front of all these people,” Taako continues, shaking his head.

“Sorry,” Angus says, but he doesn’t sound sorry.

“To be fair, I eventually gave you magical earplugs so you would stop complaining. And, y’know, not get us kicked out of our apartment building.”

“Those earplugs did help,” Angus admits with a nod.

“And, hey, now you get to be friends with me, so, who is the real winner here?” Taako gives Angus a big smile, which makes him laugh. “You wouldn’t have gotten the valuable experience of helping me with my business here today otherwise.”

“That is true,” Angus says.

Their conversation gets cut off by the people now on the stage, checking the mic one last time before the ceremony starts. It’s Merle holding the mic, announcing that they’ll start with and opening prayer to Pan, thanking him for all that is and all that will come in the domain of nature. Their group listens attentively, although precisely zero of them are devoted to Pan (or any other god, really). It’s a lovely prayer, and once it is finished, all of the listeners murmur their thanks to Pan and to the cleric delivering the prayer.

“And now,” Merle says, “we have a special surprise for this year’s spring festival. Now, this festival has been growing in size for a few years now. Almost a decade ago, it started as a way for us followers of Pan to connect to each other and to our God at this time of year, to give thanks to him and all he does for the world. Now, it’s grown beyond just a few followers gathering to give praise. Of course, we have this portion of the day to give those thanks, because that’s certainly still important, but this festival provides an opportunity for followers and non-followers alike to come together and take in the beauty of the season. Get some fresh air, and, also, to buy stuff. That is, locally made stuff from artisans right here in the city, made with their own hands and, as often as possible, local materials. And let me tell you, us Panites are glad to share this day with all of you, giving the opportunity to get out and appreciate the nature we all come from.”

Merle takes a moment glances down at a card in his hand, realizing he’s been meandering a little. “Oh, right, okay. One tradition at this festival has always been to leave a collective offering for Pan, from our community. Now, normally, we go with some flowers, some small symbols of spring, maybe a locally baked good, y’know. I am sure Pan is appreciative of the offerings we leave, because he knows they come from the heart, always. But, this year, in honour of the growth of this festival and the crowd it we decided to, um, let’s say, up our game.” Merle smiles, then holds his hand out to Sloane, who is standing alongside the covered figure in the middle of the stage.

“With the help of my good friend, we have crafted a bigger offering for Pan this year, to commemorate the growth of this festival and the community surrounding it. Ms. Sloane, if you would do me the honor of revealing this year’s offering?”

Sloane smiles softly and reaches over to the tarp, which she lifts effortlessly and with grace (quite possibly with the aid of magic, no doubt) to reveal a large flower topiary in the shape of a blue bird. The audience clap and cheer at the reveal, impressed by the beauty of the floral statue.

“This statue will remain here for the month of May,” Merle announces. “If anybody has any personal offerings to Pan, they may bring them to the front of the stage and we will arrange them with our bird for the last few prayers to our deity before the ceremony is ended.”

A few of the Panites on the stage bring over their own things, while others help the people in attendance bring their offerings over to the statue. Once everything has been gathered, Merle leads the Panites in prayer once more before saying a final word to the crowd, announcing there is music and dancing to happen once the sun sets.

Once Merle has left the stage, the people in the crowd start to disperse fairly quickly. The group surrounding Taako and Angus are a bit slower than the average, everyone standing up and stretching as they talk about what to do next.

“I mean, I was thinking we should take a little break, so I can bring my cart back and get that sorted, and then go get some grub because I am _starved_ ¸” Taako states.

“Agreed,” Lup says, rolling her shoulders. “You two?” she says, looking at Barry and Lucretia.

“I’d be down,” Lucretia says, and Barry nods.

“I could eat pretty soon,” Magnus says, and Angus agrees a second later. Ren, Carey, and Killian also hop on board with the plan.

“Okay, so, how about in about a half hour or forty five minutes we meet outside the apartment building and head to a restaurant?” Taako proposes, to which everyone, once again, agrees.

The crew that arrived with Taako, plus Ren, all go back to his cart, while the others make their own way out of the park and to the apartment building.

“So,” Magnus says, as they start to pile into the cart for the trip home, “you think it was a successful day?”

“I would say so, not that I have anything to compare it to, yet,” Taako says.

“You think you’re gonna keep selling baked goods?”

“Hm, probably. I’m gonna keep selling _something_. I’d prefer it to be more food than pastry but this was a lot easier on short notice.”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Magnus says, as the cart starts moving. “You’re a wonderful cook.”

“Thanks. I think it would be a good idea, too,” Taako says with a small smile.

“So, where does everybody wanna eat?” Lup asks after a second of silence, and the conversation takes a turn into where would be the best place to please everyone and also their wallets.

Overall, the day was definitely one of the better ones for Taako, successful and full of friends. And money. Maybe this is really something he can do, have a job he enjoys that is also actually profitable, rather than bouncing around. Perhap he _can_ have his cake and eat it, too, so to speak. Not to mention having legitimate decent connections with people outside of his sister, like she does with her own friends (and lovers).

Only time will tell, how this endeavour goes, but for the beginning of a new season to be going so well it feels like a good omen. Maybe Pan is smiling on them, or another God in the pantheon even, but as long as the vibes stay good that’s the most important thing.

 


End file.
